RLA Pastor's blog

Since I had nothing else to do at 7:00am on my day off I decided to come to the service department at Germain Toyota to write this article. Actually, I brought Sheri’s Prius in for it’s 5,000 mile service.

I knew a girl in Bible College who destroyed an engine in a new Toyota because she never had the oil changed. When her frustrated father asked about it she revealed her naivety by saying, “But dad, the car came with oil already in it.” Someday they may come up with a maintenance free car, but until then be sure to get the oil changed.

Wouldn’t it be great if life was maintenance free? Think about it. No annual check-ups at the doctor’s office. No memberships at the fitness center. Automatic personal hygiene. No financial reviews or retirement planning with your advisor. No worries at all. Just set it on cruise control and let life take care of itself. Sounds kind of like heaven, doesn’t it?!

Think of all the time you would save if your house was maintenance free? The yard would mow itself. The bed would make itself. The house would clean itself. Home repairs would be automatic. Push-button meals. Your house would be self-regulating, anticipating and meeting its every need. Wouldn’t that be cool?

What if your spiritual life was maintenance free? You would never have to open your Bible again. Prayer would be a thing of the past. Fasting? Are you kidding? Church attendance? Unnecessary. No more studying the Scriptures, reading good Christian books, or taking classes designed for spiritual development. Nothing more to learn. Nothing left to pursue. Just sign your initial commitment to Christ card, file it, and forget about it.Okay, enough silly day-dreaming. Nothing about life is maintenance free, especially your spiritual life. Rather than being an automatic thing, the Christian life requires regular maintenance. Peter stated it like this in 2 Peter 1:10, “Give diligence to make your call and election sure.” Peter added that diligent attention to your spiritual life is the way to avoid catastrophic failure. Well, they just notified me that my car is ready. Another 5,000 mile service successfully completed. But I will be back in about six months to do it all over again. Until then…